A transformer has become an essential electronic component for voltage regulation into required voltages for various kinds of electric appliances. Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic exploded view of a conventional transformer disclosed in for example U.S. Pat. No. 7,091,817 is illustrated. The transformer 1 of FIG. 1 principally includes a winding frame member 10, a primary winding coil (not shown), multiple conductive pieces 12 and a magnetic core assembly 13. The winding frame member 10 includes a tube structure 101, a first partition plate 102 and a second partition plate 103. The first partition plate 102 is parallel with second partition plate 103. A winding section 104 is defined between the first partition plate 102, the second partition plate 103 and the external surface of the tube structure 101. In addition, bending pieces 105 and 106 are extended from both edges of the first partition plate 102 and the second partition plate 103, respectively. Accordingly, two guiding slots 107 are formed on opposite sides of the winding frame member 10 for accommodating corresponding conductive pieces 12 therein. The magnetic core assembly 13 includes a first magnetic part 131 and a second magnetic part 132. Each conductive piece 12 is a U-shaped copper piece to be used as the secondary winding coil of the transformer 1. The conductive piece 12 of the transformer 1 is a one-loop structure and includes a hollow portion 121 facing the winding member 121. After the conductive pieces 12 are received in the guiding slots 107 and fixed onto the winding frame member 10, the conductive pieces 12 are electrically connected to a system circuit board (not shown).
Although the transformer 1 is effective for power conversion, there are still some drawbacks. For example, the system circuit board also has an inductor (not shown) to be electrically connected to the output terminal of the secondary winding coil (i.e. the conductive piece 12). Since the transformer 1 fails to be directly connected with the inductor, the transformer 1 and the inductor should be separately mounted on the system circuit board and then electrically connected with each other through designed trace patterns. Due to the separate arrangement of the transformer 1 and the inductor, a lot of layout area of the system circuit board is occupied by the transformer 1 and the inductor. With increasing of electronic industries, electronic devices are developed toward minimization, high operating speed and increased integration level. As a consequence, the requirement of increasing the space utilization of the system circuit board becomes more important. Furthermore, the use of the trace patterns to electrically connect the transformer 1 and the inductor may increase power loss.
Therefore, there is a need of providing a conductive module for increasing space utilization of the system circuit board and a transformer having such a conductive module so as to obviate the drawbacks encountered from the prior art.